FL-boat
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The FL-boat (Fernlenkboot, literally "remote controlled boat") was a weapon used by the Imperial German Navy during World War I. It was a remote-controlled motorboat, 17 m long, carrying Script error: No such module "convert". of explosives, which was intended to be steered directly at its targets - initially the Royal Navy monitors operating off the coast of Flanders.
FL-boats were constructed by Siemens-Schuckertwerke. They were driven by internal combustion engines and controlled remotely from a shore station through spooled wire unwound behind the boat. The wire was Script error: No such module "convert". long and the spool weighed Script error: No such module "convert".. An aircraft could be used to signal directions to the shore station by radio. The commands available to the boat operator were:
- System test
- Engine start, engine stop
- Set Rudder position
- Turn on a light, to enable the boat to be tracked at night
- Detonate the warhead, to prevent capture of the boat if it missed its target
Planned developments were to use a control station carried on a ship, in an airship or use a radio-control system. The boats could attain speeds of Script error: No such module "convert"..
On 1 March 1917 an FL-boat hit the Nieuwpoort mole and on 28 October 1917 one hit the Royal Navy monitor HMS Erebus.
See also
- MT explosive motorboat, similar Italian assault boats of World War II, manned early in a mission but with an ejector seat
References
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